Can’t Date Him, He’s Not Real

This week’s topic is: Fictional crushes you’d crush on if you were a fictional character.

ahhhh! How cruel to narrow it down to 10 and trust me it was not easy. I know forgot a few and apologize to any fictional boyfriend I may have forgotten (it was not done on purpose and I still love you). The only thing that saddens me is that men in real life rarely mirror men in fiction. Who are are some of your favorite fictional men or women?

Robb Stark (GRR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series)
Oh what I can about our King of the North? Proud, valiant and very much a man coming into his own. I admit there are days I’m on Team Jon Snow, but mostly it’s Team Robb (yes Richard Madden might have something to do with it. LOL!). He’s the rightful to heir to Winterfell & the North. He’s very much his father’s son and his sense of honor and justice is reflected. My quotes are based on the show since I failed to properly bookmark any Robb quotes, but they still work.

“Tell Lord Tywin winter is coming for him. Twenty thousand northerners marching south to find out if he really does shit gold.”

Capt. Wentworth (Jane Austen’s Persuasion)
I prefer the Ciaràn Hinds version, but in reality THIS is the Wentworth I picture every time I read Persuasion. Can we all swoon over the love letter he writes to Anne? I mean hello! If I were Anne I’d happy go running into him arms and tearing off his clothes. I mean accepting his suit.

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.”

Richard Sharpe (Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series)
I don’t know. Some might accuse me of listing him here because it is Sean Bean (well it’s true), but I think when it comes to it Sharpe is a great fictional character. Bernard Cornwell does an amazing job writing Sharpe’s progress in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. We see Sharpe struggle trying to command his men and gain acceptance from Officers. He became a Commissioned Officer on the battlefield when most were bought. The series can be read as a stand alone. Again I failed to properly bookmark my fave quotes so off the TV series it is.

“Chosen Men, are you? Well, I didn’t choose you.”

Wellesley: What do you do when you’re short of cash, Sharpe?
Sharpe: Do without, sir.

Rochester (Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre)
When it comes to all the Rochesters I have to admit Timothy Dalton is the version I prefer. I think all versions get it wrong by making Rochester too handsome. I know it is the entertainment industry and hence you aren’t going to cast an ugly person in a role.

“Most true is it that ‘beauty is in the eye of the gazer.’ My master’s colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth, — all energy, decision, will, — were not beautiful, according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me; they were full of an interest, an influence that quite mastered me, — that took my feelings from my own power and fettered them in his. I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously arrived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.”

I admit Michael Fassbender fills period clothing quite nicely and hence he gets an honorable mention.

Rochester*
As stated above I like Dalton’s Rochester better, but let’s ah admire this one for a bit. :fans self:

John Thornton (Elizabeth Gaskell’s North & South)
What kind of list would this be without Thornton? Having finished North & South (the book) a few months ago, I can honestly say I have a much better appreciation for him. The BBC production was great! Gut wrenching when we see him pleading for Margaret to “look back” at him as she leaves. :le sigh:

Calder Hart (Brenda Joyce’s Francesca Cahill series)Calder was NEVER suppose to be the hero in her series, but somehow he stole the show and Francesca’s heart. He appears at the end of Deadly Love and his actions are mysterious. He’s the first to tell you he’s a bastard of the first order, but Francesca knows he’s not and she never stops supporting him. His defense mechanism is to lash out when he’s hurt. In the end, I’m saddened Joyce won’t be continuing the series because she left a lot of unanswered questions.

“Francesca wasn’t there.
Of course she wasn’t. There wasn’t going to be a wedding–and he wasn’t even truly surprised. She had come to her senses at last.”

Leo Marsden (Sherry Thomas’Not Quite a Husband)

I’m an angst whore. This book is filled with TONS of it. What I adored about this, was Leo always wanting to be close to Bryony. He was there to look out for her so if she needed anything, he’d be there. Synopsis: Their marriage lasted only slightly longer than the honeymoon—to no one’s surprise, not even Bryony Asquith’s. A man as talented, handsome, and sought after by society as Leo Marsden couldn’t possibly want to spend his entire life with a woman who rebelled against propriety by becoming a doctor. Why, then, three years after their annulment and half a world away, does he track her down at her clinic in the remotest corner of India?

“The Castle. He’d seen this expression far too many times during their marriage. The Castle was Bryony drawing up the gates and retreating deep into the inner keep. And he’d always hated it. Marriage meant that you shared your goddamn castle. You didn’t leave your poor knight of a husband circling the walls trying to find a way in.”

“Her Leo, so bright, so beautiful. And in the end, so catastrophically flawed.”

Gabriel Emmerson (Sylvian Reynard’s Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard)
I read this book and fell in love with Gabriel and all his dark emotions. Who doesn’t want a professor with custom tailored suits and a top specialist in his field?

“At first he didn’t recognize her. She was breathtakingly beautiful, her movements sure and graceful. Yet there was something about her face and figure that reminded him of the girl he’d fallen in love with long ago. They’d gone their separate ways, and he had always mourned her, his angel, his muse, his beloved Beatrice. Without her, his life had been lonely and small.
Now his blessedness appeared.”

“When I am an old man and I can remember nothing else, I will remember this moment. The first time my eyes beheld an angel in the flesh. “I will remember your body and your eyes, your beautiful face and breasts, your curves and this.” He traced his hand around her navel before dragging it lightly to the top of her lower curls. “I will remember your scent and your touch and how it felt to love you. But most of all, I will remember how it felt to gaze at true beauty, both inside and out. For you are fair, my beloved, in soul and in body, generous of spirit and generous of heart. And I will never see anything this side of heaven more beautiful than you.”

Archie Sheridan (Gretchen Lowell / Archie Sheridan series by Chelsea Cain)
Well having the inscription at the left written to me, DOES NOT HELP. LOL! What can I say about him? I first heard about the series when I read an article that FX had bought the rights to produce a show and it sounded intriguing. Female serial killer who tortures the lead detective on the task force set to capture her for ten days then leaves him horribly scarred. I love the emotions Cain gave us with Archie. How his world was turned upside down when Gretchen Lowell came into his life and how no matter what he does to move on he can’t. She’ll be with him forever regardless of what he does to rid himself of her.

“…He’d worked tirelessly on that case. His efforts had led to identifying the Beauty Killer’s signature…Henry thought it was because [she] was Archie’s first homicide. But it wasn’t that… It was her ring…A silver Irish Claddagh ring, worn on her right hand with the heart facing outward, away from the body, indicating that she was still looking for love…”—Sweetheart

Rhett Butler (Margret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind)
Ah Rhett. He was my first crush and for that he’ll be always be number one. I was young when I read the book, but even younger when I saw the film and maybe that’s why it’s my favorite film. When I read Rhett Butler’s People, I just fell all over for him all over again.

“Dear Scarlett! You aren’t helpless. Anyone as selfish and determined as you are is never helpless. God help the Yankees if they should get you.”

“I bare my soul and you are suspicious! No, Scarlett, this is a bona fide honorable declaration. I admit that it’s not in the best of taste, coming at this time, but I have a very good excuse for my lack of breeding. I’m going away tomorrow for a long time and I fear that if I wait till I return you’ll have married some one else with a little money. So I thought, why not me and my money? Really, Scarlett, I can’t go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands. ”

David Gandy
Okay he’s not fictional, but I needed an excuse to include him.

55 Responses to “Can’t Date Him, He’s Not Real”

Oh my GOD Mr Thornton. (Or, yes, more to the point, Richard Armitage.) Can’t believe I missed him from my list. And Captain Wentworth is (almost) the swooniest of the Austen characters. Because yes, that letter would have had me running to him for sure!

I can’t believe I didn’t think of the Stark boys! Namely Jon Snow. And Khal Drogo. Swooon.
I haven’t seen the Dalton version of Jane Eyre.I loved Fassbender but my fave is Toby Stephens – have you seen that adaptation? So great.

Very few things make me gasp and tear up, but when John Thornton says, “Look back, look back at me….” My heart split in two. And great cinematography because we never know for sure if she looks back. There is a faint change in his facial expression, but…. *sigh* Great nod to the character and to the actor who can make you believe the character is a real live, breathing person.

And yes, Fassbender’s Rochester is really good, but I’ll take Ciaran Hinds anyday. He is my Rochester for sure. He does brooding very well. 🙂

Jessica

I love that you included so many men from the classics. Rhett Butler was probably one of my first fictional crushes too. As far as limiting it to 10, I actually had 25 on my list and had to narrow it to 10. Thanks for visiting my TTT.

Jessica

I included John Thornton as well! I’m glad you included Captain Wentworth and Mr.Rochester. I adore Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester- he’s my all time favourite. But I’m biased because I’m a huge fan of him ;). Great list!

Jessica

I love so many of the men on your list. I like Robb, but I think I lean more toward Jon. And there definitely needs to be a day celebrating Richard Armitage/John Thornton. And that letter in Persuasion, it is my firm belief that every woman should receive a letter like that once in her life!

Jessica

I agree: women receiving the letter. I’ve been wanting to reread the books to see what my thoughts are regarding Robb. When I first them a few years ago, he was my fave, but I do wonder if my mind will change. Ooooh a Richard Armitage / Thornton day! Hmmm now you have me thinking.

Jessica

Wonderful list! Great that you included so many classics, and I love your use of photos! (I used a few also, but most of my books hadn’t been filmed, so…) I haven’t seen that Timothy Dalton version of Jane Eyre, but my oh my he does look the part, doesn’t he? I’ll have to Netflix it!